The Royal Guards of the Night
by AsmaraHeart2001
Summary: Hurricane Whisper, the head spy for the Lunar Republic, overhears some serious news from the Solar Empire. Luna and the other bat ponies will not take this well..
1. Messenger

Chapter 1: Messenger

The moon shone bright in the sky. The crickets sang their slow song. The birds all slept soundly in their nests. The night was calm. Mostly.

A pony streaked across the sky, a silhouette against the moon. White lines pierced the air from the tips of his webbed, bat wings. His teal eyes glowed with the silvery light in a panicked manner. He brought news from across the Everfree Forest. And it wasn't good.

The river that ran through the forest floor reflected his shadow as he flew, fast as lightning. He was almost to his destination, and as soon as he got there, everything would be okay.

The wavering wall broke the treetops.

_Almost there, _he thought. _Just get to the balcony, and Silver Wind will take your news to her. As soon as she knows, she will tell everypony, and the responsibility won't be on your shoulders, anymore. _

As he rounded the last bend of the river, he felt the magical wall pass through him, and he was at the castle. It towered high above the ground, the stone walls a perfect shade of silver.

_Home, _he thought. _I made it back alright._

He slowed his flight and began to circle the castle. The minor swarms of guards noticed him immediately. Murmuring spread throughout them; wonders of what the news was that their spy guard returned with.

The spy guard landed gingerly on long branch of the tree that reached up to the balcony, and swung upside-down. Another guard flew up and hung next to him.

"Hurricane Whisper," she greeted him. "What news do you bring?" Her slitted eyes became wider as she realized his hard breathing and frantic expression.

"Silver Wind," he panted. "I bring urgent news. From Canterlot."

Silver Wind looked at him intently, a look of worry crossing her gaze.

"The Solar Empire…" Hurricane trailed off.

Silver Wind put a hoof on his back.

"Catch your breath." she said. "Then speak."

Hurricane nodded and paused for a moment. When his breathing became normal again, he took a breath to speak.

"The Solar Empire." he began again. "I overheard a conversation from their meeting room in the palace. They are planning something."

Silver Wind raised her eyebrows.

"Did you catch what it was?" she asked urgently.

Hurricane nodded.

"Yes, I did. They were planning to attack the castle."

Silver Wind gasped.

"Oh no!" she yelped. "That truly is not good! We must tell the princess right away!"

She turned on the branch and spread her wings to fly, then stopped.

"Were you seen while you were spying on their meeting?" she asked.

Hurricane shook his head.

"Not that I know of."

Silver Wind let out a breath.

"Good." she sighed as she turned back toward the balcony opening. "Follow me, let's go tell the princess. This is an urgent matter."

She unlatched her hind legs from the branch, and dropped down into the air. Hurricane followed her, both of them swooping down over the balcony. They soared down the stone hallways, avoiding other guards in their way. A few caught the intensity in their eyes, and followed on their tails, wondering what was so urgent to make Silver Wind fly so fast. They knew it was normal for Hurricane, but Silver Wind was known as one of the slower guards, even with her larger wings. But this must be extremely important for her to be pacing with Hurricane.

As they reached the end of the halls, the guards opened their wings like parachutes to slow down quickly. Hurricane, Silver Wind, and a few other guards landed on the hard floor. The room was large, with a tall curved ceiling and a long blue and a silver carpet was rolled along the middle of the floor. At the end of the room, stairs lead up to a short platform. On it sat a throne, and a window on the wall behind it showed the moon, the only light source, which lit up most of the room.

"Princess!" shouted Silver Wind. "There is an urgent matter that I think you should know about!"

From beside the throne, a tall figure came. The moonlight from the window made it so that she was only a shadow. Her long mane flowed beautifully in the air. A long horn rose from her head, and elegant wings spread from her back.

"Silver Wind," she addressed her servant. "What is this news you bring me?"

Silver Wind, Hurricane, and the rest of the guards bowed.

"Princess," said Silver Wind. "Hurricane overheard a serious conversation in the meeting room of the Solar Empire."

The princess nodded slowly.

"What was this conversation about? Does Hurricane know?"

The princess and the other guards looked at Hurricane, who glanced around them before answering.

"Y-yes, Majesty." he stammered. Never being talked to by the princess personally, he was a little nervous. "T-they were planning an attack on the castle."

Gasps spread amongst the guards.

"WHAT!?" roared the princess. "How could she? My own sister! After we made peace with them!"

Silver Wind shook her head sadly.

"We always knew they would do this. We should never have trusted them." she muttered under her breath.

"Yes, but… my own sister…" said the princess, sadness entering her voice. "How could she?"

Then it began to intensify with rage.

"HOW COULD SHE DO THIS TO ME?!"

Her eyes glowed through the dark room.

"Hurricane Whisper," she said, trying to contain her anger. "When did they say they would attack our castle?"

Hurricane hesitated.

"Tonight, Majesty." he half-whispered.

She growled furiously as she galloped over to the opening of the room. The guards outside looked at her in confusion and worry.

"Princess Luna," one of them said.

In the torch-lit halls, the princess's dark blue body and hair were revealed. Her teal eyes wavered as she scowled.

"ALL ROYAL GUARDS OF THE NIGHT!" she boomed in her royal voice. "READY YOUR WEAPONS! GET ALL YOUNG PONIES TO THE BACK CHAMBERS! WE ARE ABOUT TO BE IN WAR!"

Everypony in the crowd went flying. Some ran into each other, while others found partners and flew off to the weaponry chamber.

Luna followed a different hall, and entered a smaller chamber. This one was lit by torches, and its back wall was home to many pieces of silver armor. The princess of the night made her way to the wall, and levitated a helmet onto her head.

"You have picked the wrong army to attack, sister." she said. "You ponies of the Solar Empire may think you are the best, but the New Lunar Republic shall win this battle!"


	2. Attack

Chapter 2: Attack

Hurricane and Silver Wind stood side-by-side on the balcony. They watched the sky with large eyes, waiting for the Solar Empire to appear. It may take them the entire night to find the invisible orb that hid the castle. Or they could be right outside, planning their attack under the trees.

The one good thing about the wall was that the ponies on the inside could see out, but the ones on the outside could not see in. This gave the New Lunar Republic a very big advantage.

Suddenly, a large group of armored pegasi appeared over the treetops. One in the middle of the group was ultimately larger, and a superior horn on its head signified who it was.

"They're here…" breathed Silver Wind.

The group of pegasi continued getting ominously closer.

The captain of the Royal Guard, Storm Shield, flew out into the sky, looking back at the castle and all of its members. They stared at him awaiting their orders.

"Royal guards of the night!" he addressed the colony below. "Ready your weapons! Solar Empire incoming!"

Hurricane shifted nervously from hoof to hoof. He had never fought before. As long as he'd been on the Guard, he had only been captain spy. Never had he been involved in a real battle.

"Scared?" asked Silver Wind in a hushed voice.

Hurricane nodded and gulped.

"Well, I guess if we go down, we go down for our princess." Silver Wind said with a sigh.

The two guards continued to watch the incoming army with wide eyes. Neither of them had ever fought in their lives.

Then the sky was filled with a terrible rumbling sound as the leader of the Solar Empire fired a yellow beam from her horn. It must have been a very special and well thought spell, because instead of going through the invisibility wall, it struck it like stone on glass.

And the New Lunar Republic's only method of protection shattered before their eyes.

Their entire castle was revealed to the enemy.

Silence spread throughout both armies.

The pegasi hovered in place, just staring at the enormous castle below them.

"Maybe they won't attack…" hoped Silver Wind, still beside Hurricane.

The silence dragged on a while longer, until-

_Hweee-CHOOM! _

The leader of the Solar Empire fired another beam of magic strait at the castle, crumbling an entire wall.

The pegasi from the sky shot down, battle-ready.

From behind the awed army of bat ponies, Princess Luna flew.

"IT HAS BEGUN!" she shouted to her army. "THE SOLAR EMPIRE HAS DECLARED WAR UPON US! GUARDS! ATTACK!"

From all around the castle, bat pony guards shot out into the air, all covered with armor and weaponry.

Hurricane was frozen.

"Come on!" Silver Wind shouted at him. She was already hovering, waiting to fly off to battle. She kept glancing up, and back down at him. "Let's go!"

Hurricane tried to make his legs move, but they just wouldn't go. He was so scared.

After another few seconds of waiting, Silver Wind grunted and flew back down to him, headbutting his side. This snapped him out of his frozen state.

"What?" he snapped.

"We need to defend ourselves! The war has begun!"

She was right. Across the sky, pegasi and bat ponies were clashing. There was no getting out of this. He had to do it. For his princess.

He pumped his wings, and flew gingerly into the battle alongside Silver Wind.

Then he looked down at his hoof guards, and realized that he had no idea how to work them.

"How do you work these?" he shouted to Silver Wind over the clangs of battle.

Silver Wind glanced down at her own.

"I'm not quite sure. I think there's some way to unsheath them, like, um…"

She tried many different things, flipping them outward, flicking one then the other, then finally got them to work by swinging them both down at the same time.

"Well," she said. "I guess that's it." She swung the blades around, making sure they wouldn't retract again during a fight.

Hurricane swung his blades down to unsheath them, and made sure they were locked as well. Then he realized that he was using these to fight. He really did not like this idea.

"Alright," Silver Wind said. "Let's do thi-"

She was cut off abruptly by a grey pegasus in gold armor and metal claw-blades as he rammed into her. Hurricane saw the pegasus's weaponry claws slash across Silver Wind's chest in the fall, and tiny beads of scarlet trail in the air behind them.

"Silver Wind!" he shrieked. "NO!"

Soon she went limp under the pegasus, and he lifted off her before she slammed into the ground of the Everfree, about 100 wingbeats from the castle.

The pegasus hovered in the air above the forest, looking down at where the unfortunate bat pony had crashed to the earth. Then he flew away, back into the battle.

Hurricane, although scared out his wits, dove down to the place where Silver Wind had fell, hoping desperately that she was okay.

He hurtled through the leaves and branches of the treetops so fast, he almost slammed into the ground like his friend had just a moment ago. Luckily, he was able to slow himself down enough so that he didn't get hurt.

The Everfree forest was not such a terrible place for a bat pony. But with the sounds of battle overhead, and knowing that another of your same kind was down here, most likely dead, it didn't feel too welcoming, anymore.

Hurricane awkwardly raised his left hoof and set it down on the flat metal talons of his right hoof guard. Pushing down on them, he pried his right hoof from its armor, then proceeded in doing the same for the left. If he had only asked how to work the claws earlier, this could have been so much easier.

He hated these evil hoof guards. The sounds from the castle were enough already to remind him of the battle taking place. So he left his guards behind, but kept his armor on, just in case.

Then he set off to find Silver Wind.


	3. Decisions

The forest was so dark and freaky, tonight. Hurricane had never been afraid of anything having to do with his surroundings before, but this was something completely different. This was having the fear you might trip over the dead body of somepony of your own species. But now he had to admit, he was scared.

An owl hooted, making him jump.

_Get a hold of yourself, _he thought. _You're here all the time, as a royal _guard, _for pony's sake! You should not be-_

His hoof hit something life-like, and he leaped back in horror.

"AAH!" he shrieked.

Instinctively looking down at the thing he had hit, his heart nearly stopped. It was Silver Wind, but she looked really mangled up. Her armor had half-fallen off, her mane was ruffled out of control, and there was a terrible slash mark across her revealed chest. The strap of her chest plate must have been slashed loose during the fall. What a terrible sight she was.

"Silver Wind!" Hurricane yelped. "Please say you're okay!"

As if in response, her lungs drew in a deep breath and let it out. Relief washed over Hurricane, but he still wanted to be completely sure. Putting a hoof over her heart, he felt a slow but steady beat. She was still okay. For now, at least. There could be broken bones, or her slash could be infected. Bat ponies didn't know much about Solar Empire weaponry, so it was a mystery if they were special, or not.

Thankfully, he was also good friends with a medicine pony named Curled Fern. She had taught him a little bit about healing herbs, and he knew of a few plants in the forest that could help.

"Hold tight," he told Silver Wind. "I'll be right back with something to help you." Then he raced off into the dark trees, in aim of finding the certain plant to heal wounds.

As he galloped on, he kept his eye out for the green curly leaves. Healing weed, that's what it was called. He remembered it having a sort of minty scent, and an even stronger one when it was torn. As he was thinking about this, he almost missed a waft of the tangy fragrance as it floated past his nose. He screeched to a stop, opening his wings to catch the wind. As he stopped moving, he sniffed the air again in search of the scent. To his relief, its entrails still wafted through the air. Redirecting himself to face toward it, he headed off again.

He walked slowly, trying to pinpoint exactly where the herb was. Before long, he found a spot where the scent filled his nose the most. Prodding away some overgrowth, the curly leaves of the Healing Weed were revealed.

"Yes!" he exclaimed. "Thank Luna!"

He bent down to the ground and bit off as many stalks as he could carry.

Standing back up, he took in his surroundings, then galloped off in the direction of Silver Wind. His heart beat fast with the fright of hitting her again. But he knew he had to get her the healing herbs as soon as possible.

Hurricane soon spotted her in the dent which she had created as she had collided with the ground. The sight pierced his heart, but he knew that she would soon be healed. The magical herbs that he carried would quickly and easily do the trick. The Everfree Forest seemed to have a cure for everything.

He stood beside her, hating to look at her wound, and set the herbs down. He crushed them gently with the flat teeth in his mouth to let the juices out, then tilted his head down over her and let the liquid run onto the gash. Not to his surprise, the gash began to shimmer, and then sewed itself up soon after. Her armor was still mangled up, but otherwise, she looked completely unharmed. If only Curled Fern were here to see his work.

Silver Wind soon stirred.

"W… where…? What…?" she asked hoarsely.

"Silver Wind!" exclaimed Hurricane happily.

She looked up at him with blurry eyes.

"H...Hurricane? Is that you?" she asked hopefully. "Where are we? What happened? Did we win?"

Hurricane dipped his head.

"No," he said. "Not yet."

"What do you mean?" Silver Wind asked inquisitively.

"I mean the battle is still going on. You got slashed, and you fell unconscious into the forest." He turned to the side, trying to look regal. "Thankfully, I remembered some of Curled Fern's training and _happened _to find some Healing Weed for your wound. It was pretty bad before I got to it."

Silver Wind lowered her head in disappointment.

"I hoped it might have been over." she sighed, and looked up to the treetops. "I knew that we were never truly at peace with the Solar Empire, but I never expected it to come to this."

"I know," Hurricane responded. "I never liked the thought of war, either."

"And now… And now our castle – our _home_ – is being destroyed." Silver Wind murmured as she bent her head to pull off her shredded armor. "_Nnngh, _get this stuff off of me! I hate the feud!"

Hurricane shook his head sadly. "Yes, I think most of the less bloodthirsty bat ponies do. It doesn't seem right to not even try to talk to them. I'm not trying to go against Luna, or anything… but I think she can be sort of…"

"Aggressive?" Silver Wind finished. Hurricane let his breath out in silent agreement. Silver Wind turned to the side. "Yeah, I agree. She can be at times. Especially with her sister."

Hurricane and Silver Wind stood pondering their situation.

"Where should we go if we don't want to be a part of this? We should be honoring our princess, but… I don't think I have the gut to hurt other ponies." said Hurricane.

"Hmm…" Silver Wind thought. "Well… we probably won't be going home any time soon… So what could we do in the Everfree? I know it feels like home to us… but it's much too close to the battle site to be safe… Maybe we should just head in some direction and see where we end up. I don't know a lot about the area outside the Everfree…"

"I know a bit." said Hurricane. "If we head East, we won't have to cross much flat land… There's a large area of forest between here and Horseshoe Bay. We could check it out."

Silver Wind looked up at the treetops again, directing both their attentions back to the sounds or war. "It's just so sad to have to leave the place we've known our whole lives." Then her ears perked up. "What will happen to all the mothers and children? What about _my_ children?! They could be dead!"

Hurricane nodded. "Then we shall go around the castle, close to the walls, but still stay under the tree canopies? If we spot any other survivors, we will invite them to travel with us. How about that?"

"But how about the ponies still trapped in the castle? How could we save them?" Silver Wind protested.

Hurricane sighed. "I don't think that's possible for just the two of us. With the war going on in the air, how could we possibly get into the castle? The entrance is above ground!"

"Yes, but… but my poor little fillies…" whined Silver Wind with tears brimming in her eyes. "What will happen to them if the Solar Empire's guards get to them?"

Hurricane put a hoof on her shoulder. "We can't do anything to change their fate. And there could already be enemy guards inside the castle. We may not survive. And if we don't, then we may as well have not tried in the first place. Let's not risk our lives for something that we can not accomplish."

Silver Wind took a few seconds to recover and expel her tears. "Alright," she said with a nod. "Which way do we go? We can't see the stars through the treetops. Which way is East?"

Hurricane nodded and closed his eyes for a moment, trying to feel the world with his sensitive ears. This was his talent, and it was how he could listen in to important conversations as a spy from long distances. He looked past the battle, past the castle, and out through the trees of the forest. His powerful echoes bounced among the trunks, and, a few miles away, broke out into open land. Okay, he had gotten this far. Now he just needed to see if he could find the direction in which there were many more trees. He found Ghastly Gorge, Rambling Rock Ridge, Unicorn Range, Canterlot Mountain, Dodge City, then a large expanse of forest. And judging from the maps he had read, that was East! He turned in the direction from which he had heard the forest. "It's this way." he said.

Silver Wind shook her head with a faint smile. "Your talent has always amazed me, Hurricane."

Hurricane blushed. "Well, yours is pretty cool, too. Creating wind gusts is awesome."

Silver Wind began to giggle again, but then stopped. "We should get going. Somepony from the Solar Empire might find us if we stay here too long."

Hurricane nodded. "Let's attempt to make our way to the base of the castle and see if anypony from our side are there." he said, and re-armed himself with his right battle claw. "And let's stay quiet; we never know who could be nearby."


	4. Ambushed

Hurricane and Silver Wind had began their trek in the direction of the castle, trying to keep as quiet as possible with the claws strapped to their hooves. Soon, with much caution being taken, they reached the lower stone of the castle walls. Both bat ponies stopped.

"Do you see anypony?" Whispered Hurricane.

"Do you _hear_ anypony?" suggested Silver Wind.

Hurricane immediately understood, and flared his ears. Swiveling them carefully, he listened hard for any sounds nearby. After a few minutes, he still didn't hear anything, and was about to give up. Then he heard a small rustling. He opened his mind's eye and searched the border of the castle near him. Sure enough, he saw a bush rocking from side to side. A thorn bush, by the looks of it. Whatever, or whoever was there must be stuck. "There is something a few wing-lengths from the wall, just a little ways away from us. We might want to check it out."

Silver Wind nodded in agreement, and she and Hurricane slowly began to advance toward the thorn bush. Their hoofsteps could barely be heard, but as they got within three wing-lengths, the bush stopped moving. Whatever was inside must have heard them coming.

"Hello?" Silver Wind asked hesitantly. "Anypony there?"

The bush stayed still.

"We mean you no harm if you are one of us. We are on the side of the Lunar Republic." said Hurricane.

At that, the bush jumped to life. "Yes! Yes! I am a bat pony, too! Please, please help me!" came the small voice of a filly. It screeched and cracked, just as a young bat pony's would.

Silver Wind got on the tips of her hooves as she heard the filly's voice. "Oh, sweetie, we're coming! Stay still!"

Hurricane and Silver Wind galloped awkwardly toward the thorn bush, urgent to rescue the trapped filly. Upon reaching it, Silver Wind bent down to a group of strands and slashed them apart with her claw, revealing a small, gray-and-purple bat pony. She struggled and squirmed as she tried to wiggle her way loose from the thorns. How ever much she tried, though, the thorns only tore harder at her flank, keeping her immobile. "Please, help me out of here!" She squeaked.

"Ok, sweetie, just stay still." said Silver Wind as she raised the claw and prepared to cut away the strands. With a gentile slash, the strands were cut loose and the filly dropped to the ground.

"Thank you, thank you! I was so scared!" said the filly. "The Sun guards got into the castle and attacked the dungeons, and everypony was surrounded! Me and a few other fillies tried to escape, but the others got really hurt and couldn't make it, so I was the only one who got out! I was so scared, I wasn't watching where I was running, and I got caught up in this bush!"

Silver Wind bent her neck to get closer to the filly's height. "Did you see three fillies with Leopard Moss by the names of Sugar Pine, Maple Sap, and Daisy Petal?" she asked in a hushed voice.

The filly hung her head. "Yes… but they couldn't make it out in time. The guards got them. They made a great effort to escape them, but the guards hurt them bad and they got some red spots on their fur." she murmured sadly, remembering the scene from inside the castle. "I'm very sorry."

Silver Wind closed her eyes and stood up, taking a deep breath. She was trying very hard not to break down in front of the little bat pony. After a moment of silence between the three survivors, Silver Wind let her breath out. "That's alright, sweetie." she said in a wavering voice. "That's quite alright. Their fate was unfortunate, but it had to be carried out." She touched her muzzle to the filly's forehead. "I am very sorry you had to see it happen." she said with tears in her eyes. Her voice was getting more and more wavery, but she still didn't cry.

Hurricane cautiously put his hoof up. "What's your name?" he asked quietly to the filly.

She looked up at Hurricane with sad eyes. "I know you, don't I?" she asked.

Hurricane raised an eyebrow. "Yes you look awfully familiar…"

"My name is Pixie."

"Ah, yes!" Hurricane said, now remembering the filly from his days in medicine training. "You're Curled Fern's daughter!"

"Yes," she said. "You were her pupil once, right?" Hurricane nodded. "So that's why you looked so familiar. I thought I had seen you there before." Then she frowned. "Although… we probably won't see that room, again."

The three ponies looked up through a gap in the Everfree treetops and looked at the corner of the castle that had been blown to smithereens by the Canterlot princess.

"It's such a shame…" sighed Silver Wind. "I thought harmony was supposed to be restored after the Nightmare Forces were banned from Luna by the Elements."

Pixie gazed up at the two older bat ponies with curiosity in her shimmering eyes. "The Elements…?"

Silver Wind sniffed. "Yes, Pixie," she said. "The Elements of Harmony. They are the ones who took Luna's dark powers away and freed her from Nightmare Moon. They were meant to spread friendship and harmony across all of Equestria… but sadly, they could not clear up the feud between our kind and other ponies." She gestured to Hurricane with her bare hoof. "I wouldn't even know of them if it weren't for Hurricane and his incredible eavesdropping skills."

Pixie was silent for a moment. "Wow… I wish their power had cleared this whole war up. I don't think anypony likes fighting."

Hurricane and Silver Wind glanced at each other sadly. "We both wish the same, little one. All ponykind wants is peace, but Celestia and Luna are too locked in to their feud."

A sound of wood snapping echoed through the trees, and the sounds of the battle overhead seemed to fade. All three ponies pricked their ears and turned to where it had come from.

"What was that…? Pixie squeaked.

Hurricane scanned the trees with his echo voice. He immediately caught on to a group of shadowy figures and could not fathom the shapes. "Guys," he whispered urgently. "We need to go." The brush rustled nearby. "Now! Run!" he gasped.

The bushes were suddenly cut apart, and six gray unicorns with golden armor leaped out, all wielding a weapon of some sort in their magic grip. All three of the bat ponies turned tail and dashed as quickly as they could, Pixie grasping Silver Wind's tail to keep up. Both the mature ponies were not able to run very well with the battle claws still sticking out of the single guard on each of their right hooves. Being arial weapons, they were not meant to slide in and out very easily.

"How do you retract these things?!" shouted Silver Wind, flicking her right hoof quickly with every stride. "We need to be able to run faster!"

"I don't know," shouted Hurricane, fiddling with his own. "Try flipping them backward! We flipped them forward to open them, so why not try the opposite?"

The two mature bat ponies tried Hurricane's method, finding that with a few tries, the silver blades slipped (not with ease) back down into the hoof guard. After that happened, they were able to swiftly gallop between the trees, almost losing the unicorn guards behind them. Pixie continued to fiercely grip Silver Wind's tail as they raced along.

"Flap!" shouted Hurricane. "We go faster when flying!"

Keeping up their quick pace, they rapidly pumped their darkly-webbed wings, making them lighter and lighter until they lifted off, taking up even more speed. At least for Hurricane.

"I don't know how to fly!" shouted Pixie through Silver Wind's tail.

"FLAP!" Hurricane and Silver Wind shouted at the same time.

Pixie's small wings fluttered, trying desperately to catch the wind. "I can't! It doesn't work!" she whimpered. "My wings are too small!"

Silver Wind took a breath and strained to flap harder, gaining back a bit of her speed. "Try harder! Stretch them out far so they can catch more wind!"

"Man," Hurricane sighed under his breath. "This is the worst time for a flying lesson; a life-or-death situation!"

Pixie continued to struggle to lift above the ground, her little wings barely a blur as they pushed. Her hooves breached the forest floor for a mere second, then touched back down. "I've almost got it!" she squeaked, stumbling a bit from the contact. "Just… gimme a sec!"

Hurricane glanced back at the unicorns. "We don't really have a sec!"

A unicorn from behind them shot a beam of amber magic at the group of bat ponies ahead of them. It exploded a patch of ground near Silver Wind's hooves, and almost took her with it. She stumbled, and had to pump her wings quickly a few times to catch back up with the group.

She ducked her head under Pixie's belly and scooped her up onto her back. "Hang tight!" she shouted. "We're taking off!"

Hurricane acknowledged Silver Wind with a brisk nod, then the two flapped hard and they lifted above the trees, away from the unicorns. A few golden beams fired blindly at the tree tops, all missing the bat ponies.

Hurricane looked East. "Come on, let's escape this nightmare."

Silver Wind took one last glance at the battle in the sky behind them, then nodded and began to follow Hurricane to the East.


End file.
